Telemetry is an enabling technology for large complex systems such as missiles, spacecraft, oilrigs, and chemical plants because it allows automatic monitoring, alerting, and record-keeping necessary for safe, efficient operations. Organizations such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the European Space Agency (ESA) and other agencies use telemetry/telecommand systems to collect data from a monitored asset, such as operating spacecraft and satellites. Often this data is received from the monitored asset in the form of a series, or set, of messages.
Telemetry data is important in the development phase of missiles, satellites and aircraft because, at least in part, the monitored asset might be destroyed after/during the test. Engineers need critical system parameters in order to analyze (and improve) the performance of the system. Without telemetry, these data would often be unavailable.
Establishing a total ordering relationship among the elements of a set of messages received from a monitored asset may sometimes be difficult or impossible if the attributes of the elements based on which total ordering has been defined is complex (interdependent and bounded). This is particularly true in case of telemetry. The messages generated by the recording equipment of the monitored asset may contain attributes that may individually not be enough to establish total ordering. A combination of message metadata along with the some information contained within the message may have to be used to establish relative ordering.
Accordingly, a need exists for a mechanism to establish a total ordering relationship of a set of messages where establishing the relationship among a dynamically growing set of messages is difficult or impossible due to complex elements as described above. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description of the invention and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background of the invention.